Cleaning fish with a knife is a messy technique that is well known to fisherman and those preparing fish. Knives have been developed over the years for specifically filleting fish. See for example, U.S. Pat. No. Des. 229,659 to Murnan; U.S. Pat. No. 5,365,666 to Gonzalez; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,574,431 to Colling. In order to filet a fish, one must remove the scales, the head, the tail and also the insides with the knife. During the cleaning operation, the knife being used becomes quite dirty with debris and fluid such as blood. The operator usually needs to constantly clean the knife while it is being used. Keeping the knife clean becomes even more important when several fish or more are to be cleaned and/or filleted.
Common techniques to clean the knife have included passing the knife over a running a faucet within a sink, and running a spray end of a garden hose connected to a spigot over the knife. However, both techniques require extra delay time to maneuver the knife into a cleaning position. Additionally, both techniques cause an unnecessary mess to the sink or to surrounding areas where the running hose sprays.
Various types of cleaning type filet tools have been proposed over the years. See for example, U.S. Pat. No. 2,557,272 to Gabriel; U.S. Pat. No. 3,667,086 to Sexton; U.S. Pat. No. 4,297,765 to Altman et al.; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,615,079 to Chartrand. However, these devices generally rely on connecting a garden hose to the unit and constantly running water through the unit. To shut the water off, the operator must return to the spigot control. Thus, these units can further create undue messes as well as waste water that is running while the spigot is being turned on and off. Still furthermore, these units require connecting the running hose to a fish scaler or scraper. And there clearly are areas about the units that come in contact with fish that are not being thoroughly cleaned. Also, none of the units are useable with a knife.
Thus, there exists the need for better techniques for cleaning a fishing knife.